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<\/p>\nA few weeks ago, we ended up going on an adventure where hubby, the girls and I ended up at the Statue of Liberty. It was a rainy, February day, my Florida girls bundled in their warmest attire.<\/p>\n
It was the first time for any of us to visit the Statue of Liberty. But that wasn’t our only first that weekend.<\/p>\n
For the first time in almost 10 years, I boarded a plane without my baby. Without a diaper bag, without car seats, without a buggy. Just the four of us, like it used to be when we were exploring Europe.<\/p>\n
We left the boys in Florida with my parents because it was just easier, we had work to do and they’d cause more trouble than it was worth for the short time we had.<\/p>\n
The past few months haven’t been easy for our family. Transitioning back to a family unit after 7 weeks apart this fall was harder for all of us than we expected. It seems our family has been in a constant state of upheaval for the past year (ultimately starting with hubby’s job change<\/a>\u00a0last spring).<\/p>\n And while we’re all moving at our own paces towards a place of contentment and peace, the craziness isn’t going to be letting up anytime soon.<\/p>\n After 5 1\/2 years in South Florida, two boys, a million wonderful memories and too many great friends to count, we’re finally getting out.<\/p>\n We never intended South Florida to be our forever home and we’ve been seeking a new beginning almost since we arrived back here. And while I don’t regret returning from Dublin or the time we’ve spent here, we’ve never actually liked it here all that much.<\/p>\n It’s not the sort of place we’ve wanted to be long term. It’s the sort of place where my husband has a good job he loves and where we’ve been able to make easy life choices that benefited our entire family.<\/p>\n But we’ve been looking for the opportunity to find happiness somewhere else for a long time and the right opportunity has finally come our way. Hubby gets to keep that job he loves and we get to live in a place where our family with thrive and we can return to focusing on what is important to us: family, traveling and pursuing our own interests and chasing our dreams.<\/p>\n The world will basically be at our doorstep.<\/p>\n I’ll hopefully be able to get back into dancing now that the kids are getting bigger and easier to manage and even if I can’t dance, I’ll be able to enjoy the world’s greatest dance companies as a spectator.<\/p>\n Hubby can do all the outdoorsy things he loves from mountain biking to skiing and golf.<\/p>\n Honeybun will have the opportunity to continue golf, dance and gymnastics if she wishes or delve into new, exciting opportunities like ice skating.<\/p>\n Sugarplum can continue her gymnastics training and work towards her big dreams.<\/p>\n Doodle will have the chance to delve deeper into gymnastics and compete when he’s a little bigger, if he still wants to.<\/p>\n And when he’s bigger, little Pipsqueak can do anything he wants (we’re thinking hockey might be a good fit for our busy little bruiser.)<\/p>\n Europe will be a hop-skip-jump away and we’ll be a short drive from hubby’s family as well as uncountable wonderful cities and places.<\/p>\nBecause we are moving<\/em>.<\/h4>\n